Becoming Grassfed Day 18: After a day in Spanish Lookout..the war has begun

10/22/16

San Ignacio, Belize-Spanish Lookout, Belize

Another liquid morning, I am finding that my pre-trip tactics of not eating any solids in the morning worked. I had been doing that for the few weeks that I was at home before returning to Belize and now that I went away from it/came back..I know how much better I feel.

I read an article from Joseph Mercola about intermittent fasting was so beneficial and consisted of a 6-8 hour period of eating each day. The main factor is that when you are within this window, you must hit the correct amount of vitamins and nutrients. The rest of the day is a fast, time to let your body do it’s thing and burn the fat that’s stored up instead of focusing on the current meal. When I was at home I was working on a decently strict schedule of this, usually keeping my window around 6-10 hours of eating.I was amazed at how much better I was feeling after just a few days. http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/11/08/beginners-guide-intermittent-fasting.aspx

Today I added a few things to my morning ritual,dried ginger and turmeric in separate cups of water. Just a spoonful of the dried roots with help fuel my body with cancer-fighting vitamins and powers of the magical medicine. There is a part about these in the www.wearegrassfed.com holistic medicine page about all that these they can do to heal our bodies. They don’t mix up the best but it works to pour some more water and splash down the sides of the glass while flushing the root powder into your system to fuel.

Mary, Sparkle, and my new friend picked me up a little after 8 and we headed to the market to set up the Pro-Organic booth to promote the organization and sell memberships to the co-op which starts Nov. 1. The day at the market was so much fun, I keep meeting people that make it seem like I have known them for years. More new friends and good stories, the market reminds me of Canton that I do back home…the ambiance is so similar but this is much more produce based.

After the market, my new friends Bob and Sheila took us to Spanish Lookout, the predominately Mennonite community just outside of San Ignacio. We took a cab to Bullet Tree village and they were waiting to take us on a journey. We ventured into a part of Belize that I had never been to, we swung around the Northwest part of the San Ignacio and headed towards Spanish Lookout, passing through little villages on the way full of sleeping policemen(speed bumps) and washed out roads.

We made it to the Farmer’s Trading Center, the big superstore in Spanish Lookout that was hosting a sale of UP TO 20% off(of course they tell you something different once you get there..UP TO 20% meaning probably 10-15% with a slight chance of 20%).The place was packed, I saw every type of Mennonite I can imagine…many have gone away from the original idea of health and natural living, maintaining the culture, and most things you would expect from Mennonites..

After getting crates, a scale, and bags for the produce co-op we were ready to run get some stuff for Bob and Sheila’s house, a few different trips to hardware stores later, we drove out to a lagoon on the other side of town. This was such a nice peaceful place to enjoy a light lunch with friends, the view was awesome. After having some good conversation, Bob dropped Sheila back off at home, took us to Mary’s so we could meet up with Sparkle, and head to Kirtan at 7. It was weird because we were talking about “housekeeper ants” that come through your house and carry away all of the bugs and unneeded items.

Mary and Sparkle have such an amazing setup, a beautiful little house on top of the hill surrounded by fruit orchards and good vibes. The house was filled with a nice touch of classical music but was overtaken by a loud roar of EDM as Evan pulled into the drive way. It is Kirtan time.

We sang a few songs and played with the instruments while listening to some of Evan’s personally made beats, the real Ashram experience. After some songs, we ate a delicious dinner of Callaloo Greens with Tofu(I don’t usually eat but tofu but it was prepared so I tried it), A carrot salad, Guacamole, Watermelon, and Coconut Cream.

As I got back to the lodge, I noticed that there were a bunch of big ants on the outside of the door frame running down in a line..A few had snuck through but overall they were relatively contained. I had made a mixture of vinegar, peppermint oil, patchouli oil, and coconut oil a few days ago so I went to town..spraying everything that I could see. Just as I thought I had won the battle, I turned around to see a whole other corner of the cottage was covered in black specs. I had heard these referred to as “housekeeper ants” because they clean out all of the spiders, bugs, or any food that has been left out..but I don’t like bugs and I don’t want my house cleaned. The holistic pesticide worked incredibly well for the time being, hundreds of ants receded into the holes they came in from.

By about 1 AM, I was attempting to write this while falling asleep at my desk..there were only a few stragglers in the cottage. I turned the AC down as low as possible, pulled my bed as far away from the wall as I could, packed all of my stuff up(in case I needed to flee in the middle of the night), and spread patchouli oil and vinegar around the bed to make sure none could get to me if they made a late night invasion. I was finally able to go to sleep.

By the next morning(now) there were more ants coming in so I packed up all of my stuff and requested to move rooms. Critters and Pests are just part of the jungle adventure, nothing to be scared about but definitely something to avoid.

Check back in for the next blog to see how the war was won.

Also here are a few things that I got from the market today that I will be talking about in tomorrow’s blog: Cat’s Claw, Chamomile, Colloidal Silver, Chia, and Diatomaceous Earth.